Siena Heights women's basketball beats Wilberforce, 95-64

Saturday

Nov 24, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Saints advance to championship game in own tournament

By John KoserDaily Telegram Sports Writer

The Siena Heights University women's basketball team earned its fourth straight win Friday night, defeating Wilberforce University 95-64 in the opening round of Siena Heights Thanksgiving Tournament. The 95 points are a season high for the Saints.

The Saints shot 50 percent from the field and scored 38 points in the paint in Friday's win.

"It wasn't our game plan coming in," admitted Siena Heights coach Sue Syljebeck. "Still, we have girls that are strong in the post. We're undersized, but very solid. Amanda [Duke] was phenomenal for us tonight in the post. She's a great all-around aspect to our program. She's the total package."

With Siena missing one of its top players, Chandler Levit, due to sickness, Duke stepped up for the team. Duke helped the Saints control the game, netting 14 rebounds and 15 points. Duke also managed to draw several fouls as she took the ball to the basket.

"I felt that with Chandler out, I needed to step up tonight, especially with rebounding and boxing out," Duke said.

Siena and Wilberforce (1-7) appeared to be evenly matched in the game's opening minutes, trading points back and forth. It wasn't until seven minutes into the half that Siena was able to build a lead.

For the Saints, their offense was running smoothly as they continued to feed the ball down low. Unfortunately for Siena, they struggled to box out on defense and let Wilberforce have multiple attempts at points. The Bulldogs finished with 10 offensive rebounds in the first half alone and had 10 second-chance points.

Siena Heights continued to roll on offense, eventually building 38-19 lead with seven minutes to go in the half.

Then, for the second time in three games, the Saints fell apart in the closing minutes of the half. Suddenly, Siena couldn't make a shot and committed several turnovers. Wilberforce quickly turned the mistakes into points, whittling Siena's lead down to six, 43-37, at the half.

"I don't really know what the problem is," said Syljebeck. "I'm not sure if we're losing focus or getting tired. I just tell them how important it is to come out strong in the second half and they do."

The Saints came out stronger in the second half. After trading points for a few minutes, Siena went on a 7-0 run. Wilberforce, now down 56-41, never got within 10 points of tying the game.

Siena's Morgan Warfield began to catch fire in the second half. Warfield, who only had three points at the half, finished the game with 16 points.

The Saints saw the foul line often, finishing 29-for-36 as a team. The Saints also forced Wilberforce to commit 27 fouls on the night.

"Drawing those fouls was huge for us," said Syljebeck. "We had 29 points there. There's the game right there."

The Saints' entire bench got in on the act as all but two players finished with at least two points.

"We try and pride ourselves on our defense, but we believe that everyone on this team can score," Syljebeck said. "We're versatile, and we have a deep bench. Everyone can produce. I don't know if we have a top conference player that's going to score 20 points every night, but any one of our girls can score 20 points on any given night. I think that's what makes us so hard to defend."